A funny kind of a day

I accomplished absolutely nothing useful today, but strangely enough I feel better and happier tonight than I have in days, even weeks. Woke to rain, yet another dreary day, and while I knew I should be grateful for the moisture, my only thought was that I really wanted a sunny day to help me improve my disposition. It didn’t happen—either the sun or the improvement. A friend cancelled a longstanding date, and Jordan was not pleased when I told her about yet another doctor appointment. She’s glad to take me, usually wants to be there, but when I first tell her it’s like another chore added on to the many she already has. And there have been too many appointments lately. And where I thought we would have lunch together, I found she had other arrangements—as well she should. She can’t babysit her mom all the time, when I don’t need it except for sociability reasons.

We had joint appointments for facials at Origins, the store where I’ve bought make-up and skin products for at least a decade, probably longer. The ladies who did them were cheerful and fun, and my mood brightened a bit, though I was baffled by the products used on my face. I think maybe I’ve had one facial in my whole life before. Truth is that when Alicia finished, my face did feel better, fresher. But the mood didn’t last, and I was on the edge of tears on the way home.

But the day began to turn around. Black bean soup for lunch tasted really good. I took care of a few details on my desk and then two a solid two-hour nap. Woke feeling like a new person. Not a mysterious turn-around. I had contacted my doctor to report feeling lethargic with no interest in food and a slight feeling of nausea. As I suspected, he suggested I needed to cut back on one medication, and I think the change kicked in today.

Jordan and I have shared a couple of experimental meals since Christian has had other obligations. We do that to try the things we know he wouldn’t like. Last night’s meal was a bust, maybe partly due to my own ambivalence about food, but I’m delighted to report that tonight’s meal was a success, and I loved every bite.

I fixed scallops in a lemon/basic sauce. Got the scallops just right, with a nice brown on the outside and still tender on the inside. The sauce was butter, white wine, lemon peel and lemon juice, and chopped basil, thickened with cornstarch in a tiny bit of water. I sliced a couple of mushroom that needed to be used and threw them into the mix. Jordan made a salad of leftover canned artichoke hearts, diced Roma tomatoes, avocado, and blue cheese, with lemon juice instead of dressing. You’d have eaten every bite too.  Those recipes are keepers, though the salad, I confess, is an off-the-top-of-my-head one remembered from a salad served me probably fifty years ago at a ranch in the Texas Panhandle—watercress and tomato in lemon juice. I just added blue cheese and avocado.

I have scenes in my mind for the novel I’m working on, and they will be my priority tomorrow. In the last week, I accomplished only 1500 words, but now things are looking up.

I’m a happy (happier?) camper tonight. I feel like I’ve come back from someplace far away.